tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post3387930941686978831..comments2024-03-18T21:30:04.613-07:00Comments on <b>Smashwords</b>: 2015 Book Publishing Industry Predictions: Slow Growth Presents Challenges and OpportunitiesDovetail Public Relationshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05039664167177159146noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-70290577284788833172015-09-10T18:49:31.620-07:002015-09-10T18:49:31.620-07:00This is such a great post. I have been racking my ...This is such a great post. I have been racking my brain trying to get direction for when I finish my book. There is so much information out there and going the traditional agent and publisher route seems like a nightmare.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05998341472939061773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-82472168173327359532015-01-05T14:44:14.139-08:002015-01-05T14:44:14.139-08:00@Peter - Once you introduce gate keepers you'v...@Peter - Once you introduce gate keepers you've stepped over the threshold and are headed right down the hallway to the same traditional publishing gate keepers we already have. Who gets to choose what is a "bad book" vs a "good book"? do you start with typos? grammar? then what's next? story content? pacing? marketability? And soon all these indie distributors are the same as the big 5 publishers and we start over with new distributors who have no gatekeepers. I think it will eventually go that route, though, at least with Amazon, but that's another discussion all together.<br /><br />Great post mark :) <br /><br />Discover-ability is a problem, and I'm not sure how to fix it. At the moment we, as authors, tend to post on social media so that it's akin to a knife salesman going to the park and selling knives from a picnic table. Sure, he'll make some sales, but the people at the park aren't *looking* for knives, so his success rate will be less. Where as if he could find a place where a lot of people who were all looking for knives were gathered his sales percentage would be much higher. But where is that place? A knife store? Sure, only there are 500,000 other knives there and only the top selling ones are displayed right on the shelves; the buyers have to go search in the back rooms for the others, so he's less likely to sell there. So he goes to a store with fewer knives to sell - some small imprint - only because the store is small and the selection small, now the customers aren't there so he's back at the park shouting at people enjoying their picnics, trying to get them to visit the store. In the end I think the best discoverablitiy is, sadly, those email lists people subscribe to. The ones that usually cost $$ to get your book listed on. The people getting it int heir inbox/checking the listing site are looking for books, so it's not random passers by, and there are only so many listed per day, so the volume you're competing with is much lower. However, you still run the risk of "this email list says they have 2,000 subscribers but only about 100 of them are real people and/or open their emails to see my book listed" add to that that they are really only effective if your book is on sale or free (because a sale or a limited time free causes people to act now while they can grab the deal up as opposed to knowing they have tie to do it) so unless you have a backlist you still haven't gained much. Sooooo what's the answer? Write a bunch of really good books with good covers and good descriptions and then try offering one (or more) on sale/free and get them listed on some of those email lists. At least that's what I'm working on, anyway ;) I know my best sales have occurred after getting a book (usually the first in my series which was $.99 and is now free) listed on one of those. You get more downloads with free than with a sale priced book but I'm not sure it translates out later. A lot of the free downloaders never read the book because they're just free hoarders (i do this too, so I'm not pointing fingers!) But I don't have enough data yet to support the theory (it's only been free for a month and it may take longer than that for people to read it and move on to buying the rest), so we'll see. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-32995606211848388612015-01-04T11:07:59.136-08:002015-01-04T11:07:59.136-08:00The glut of throwaway drivel out there in the mill...The glut of throwaway drivel out there in the millions in the market have made the potential of the best book a small chance of distribution. The traditional publishing industry has gone on a dark grim consciousness in their books. Formulaic and tripe. Walked through Barnes and Noble the other day looking for anything inspirational, anything uplifting, anything having an underlying truth or premise greater than the material wallowing of the current society, no luck. Bought another history book.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09937758665592512260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-61206157872810617482015-01-03T17:55:22.808-08:002015-01-03T17:55:22.808-08:00Some readers may find of interest the following li...Some readers may find of interest the following link on the VAT situation. http://carolynjewel.com/wordpress/2015/01/01/one-size-does-not-fit-all-book-prices-in-the-eu/<br /><br />Others may wish they had not had this clarification.George Phillieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15430038472888222992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-76170617100781499762015-01-03T16:10:03.525-08:002015-01-03T16:10:03.525-08:00@Mike Matheson
Do you live outside the USA? I&#...@Mike Matheson <br /><br />Do you live outside the USA? I'm not in Select, and I get 70% on books in USA as long as they're $2.99-$9.99. I don't know how things work for authors in other countries. I get 70% in some countries (like the UK and Germany), but most of them is 35%, regardless of price. If I was in Select, my $2.99 books would be 70% in all countries.Ruth Ann Nordinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15277679843442868070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-78388378490467252972015-01-03T11:51:29.313-08:002015-01-03T11:51:29.313-08:00Thank you Mark,
I'll bear your comments in mi...Thank you Mark,<br /><br />I'll bear your comments in mind.<br /><br />Happy New Year<br /><br />:)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11860677196258806345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-46896784249697796732015-01-03T11:25:17.467-08:002015-01-03T11:25:17.467-08:00@Ed. I appreciate your perspective and certainly ...@Ed. I appreciate your perspective and certainly appreciate the challenge of how an author can make their book stand out from the other 330,000 books at Smashwords. It's important to remember that our primary role at Smashwords is distribution to other retailers. It's a bit unusual that as a distributor we operate our own retail store (a vestige of the early days in 2008 before we became a distributor). To put things in perspective, about 95% of our authors sales come from sales at the retailers we distribute to, so only about 5% of sales on average are from the SW store. At the SW store you're only (*only*) competing against 330,000 titles, whereas at a major retailer you're competiting again millions. I think there's a lot more we can do to provide discovery tools for authors in our store, and we may do these things, but when it comes down to it our primary focus is helping our authors be more successful on the distribution side of things because that's where their greatest sales potential is. I don't see the day we ever allow authors to pay us for advertising placement. We don't take money from authors. We're much more inclined to leverage more organic systems where our discovery algoritms are based on reader interactions (sales, downloads, reviews), stuff you might call the meat and potatoes of retail discovery. Thanks.Dovetail Public Relationshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05039664167177159146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-13312413393693177902015-01-03T11:25:07.950-08:002015-01-03T11:25:07.950-08:00@awillis511, Amazon gives merchandising advantage ...@awillis511, Amazon gives merchandising advantage to authors that enroll in KDP Select. To the extent this advantage is effective (every author's experience will vary from month to month and book to book), then you can probably expect to experience a sales decline at Amazon if you pull out of Select. However, what you'll gain is the ability to diversify your retailer exposure because you can distribute your books to the other approximate 35% of the ebook market represented by the retailers in the Smashwords distribution network of Apple iBooks (the world's #2 seller of ebooks), Barnes & Noble (still very big in the US market), Kobo (strong in Canada and sells globally), the Smashwords store (small store, international), Scribd, Oyster, OverDrive (libraries) and others. I think it's advantageous to take a long term view. You should expect that it might take months or years to develop readership at these other retailers. What you'll find, however, is that as you build readership, building more readership becomes easier. It's a general rule of platform building. The early days are the most difficult, but if you stick at it and work hard, the rewards are more likely to come. You'll also find that your books might sell better at some retailers than others, and it will fluctuate often for reasons that cannot be explained (there's a lot of randomness). Ruth Ann Nordin on this thread is a good example. She broke out at Kobo a year before she broke out at iBooks. I talk about her in my free ebook, The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success.<br /><br />@Peter. Yes, the never-ending challenge of discoverability. Self publishing will enable more great books to be published than ever before, but also more horrible books. It's the yin and yang of self publishing. I think the retailers do a great job in their discovery algorithms to filter out the books to which readers aren't responding. In many ways, even though there are millions of books at the ebook retailers, books are more discoverable now than they've ever been, especially when compared to the old discovery limitations of brick and mortar stores. Online ebook stores have more virtual shelves, which makes it easier for readers to drill down to their micro-category of interest, and then once there they can search for books based on what's selling, what's new and what's getting the best reviews. The curation job is now in the hands of readers. The system isn't perfect, but I do think it's much more fair than imposing gatekeepers into the system. That's not to say that gatekeepers don't have an opportunity to play an important role, however. For example, a blogger who specializes in reviewing a certain category of books can become a trusted expert for their audience, and to the extent that blogger surfaces the very best books in that category, readers will respond to them by trusting their recommendations and rewarding the recommended books with their readership. So gatekeeping such as this will always be alive and well because such expert curation is appreciated by many readers. It's just not a job we'd ever want to take on at Smashwords. I view such expert curation as a value-add layer than be performed by specialists. Our specialty at Smashwords is managing the digital logistics of ebook distribution.<br />Dovetail Public Relationshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05039664167177159146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-11360233706826566022015-01-03T11:24:33.277-08:002015-01-03T11:24:33.277-08:00@Tom Based on my observation of the bestseller li...@Tom Based on my observation of the bestseller lists, and my ability to correlate sales rank with the actual underlying sales, the lists are actually quite accurate in their ability to show what readers are buying. They're weighted toward unit sales over the most recent 12-24 hours. Some retailers exclude adult material from their lists (erotica), so yes, I suppose that's a form of artifice. iBooks, B&N and Kobo allow accumulated preorders to credit all at once the day the book goes onsale. Some might view that as a form of artifice, but it has good redeeming qualities as well by making these lists more accessible to lesser known authors, and it does no disservice to readers because if a book is able to accumulate several thousand orders during its preorder period, that's pretty dang special it it probably deserves extra attention by readers. :)<br /><br />@Joyce, I think the best days are still ahead for indie authors. But my point is that for indies to fully exploit these opportunities, they're going to have to work harder because one of the most powerful tools in the indie author's bag of tricks was the ability to price low. This gave indies a huge advantage over the last few years. It's still an advantage now and into the future, but the advantage will diminish (much in the same way FREE books will still help increase readership, but not in the same dramatic fashion as years prior). Of all my predictions, #12 is the most important. It's really back to basics time. It's all about the book, and the book's ability to transport the reader to a "wow" experience. And then to the extent the author can execute on the full constellation of best practices, they'll increase the chances that their book's brilliance becomes accessible to readers.<br /><br />@BF, good approach. <br /><br />@Renée I'd encourage you to continue distributing through Amazon's regular KDP program, just avoid KDP Select which requires exclusivity. The goal is to maximize the availability of your books so it's convenient for readers to find your books at their favorite reader. For millions of readers, that favorite retailer might be Barnes & Noble, iBooks, or Amazon. Let the readers decide.<br /><br />@Mike, I see others already answered, but I'll add that your prior misconception is actually quite common. I meet writers all the time who think that Amazon requires exclusivity. Amazon makes it an opt-in option, but they also go out of their way to encourage you at every click to enroll your books, and once enrolled they auto-renew and do a good job of reminding you of your exclusive obligation. It's fair to say Amazon benefits from this confusion more than the author.<br /><br />@Owen, thanks for the sharing the European POV. The VAT will increase book prices, so that will probably impact consumption to some degree. In the past, most authors ate the 3% VAT without passing it on to customers. Now many indies will decide to increase prices so if past experience and general economic theory of price elasticity holds true, the increased prices should reduce unit sales. Of course this is only theory. In practice, the reader is performing complex calculus in their mind to determine the desirability of a book, and in that calculus price is but one factor, and usually not the only factor.Dovetail Public Relationshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05039664167177159146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-23803997421408138602015-01-03T10:24:28.291-08:002015-01-03T10:24:28.291-08:00You can use KDP to publish on the amazon sites but...You can use KDP to publish on the amazon sites but you don't have the perk of KDP select... if you want to call that perks anyways...<br /><br />I use KDP to publish my book so that they go on all the amazon sites around the world.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03939979823691233554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-65602801372634278752015-01-03T10:23:09.243-08:002015-01-03T10:23:09.243-08:00Thank you for the insightful words. This year'...Thank you for the insightful words. This year's predictions have me feeling pretty good in that I'm not dependent on my royalties to put food on the table so I will eat the VAT increase and give my readers a break. Alas, I'm able to do this because I have a full-time job and can only write as a hobby. For those authors whose livelihood depends on substantial monthly book sales, I hope they can find a happy medium that will allow them to survive. Happy writing to all!Danny Culpepperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05016360499325770390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-62706450248377656132015-01-03T10:07:10.888-08:002015-01-03T10:07:10.888-08:00part 2 If you go to a physical library you will se...part 2 If you go to a physical library you will see posters and ads all over the place to help promote specific books and unless smashwords starts doing that it will just become a data dump like i said earlier.<br />Also free should be removed entirely form the site as too many freeloaders are using this to get their fix. Free chapters or a free percentage of the book should be the norm instead of giving it for free. Otherwise down the road the new authors will just post everything they have for free to gain readership and make no money at all because of the freeloaders. I know what i am talking about. As soon as i put my stuff for free i get some people downloading my books. As soon as i put a price i get no downloads. Even if i put my price at a more than reasonable 99 cents i get nothing, that is because smashwords encourages freeloaders to abuse the site because of its very own design. Free should go and chapters samples should be instated. If you want your books to be free you could use the coupon system to give them out as free promotions to an interested crowd.<br />Also smashwords should seperate itself from the erotica genre. It should have its own website for the adult content which would give the other content a chance to stand out amongst the crowd. Sex will always win over anything to matter what and its hurting the other genres that have all of this mixed together on the same site to make it look like it is bigger. Smashwords should seriously consider to do a clean up and do what it is right. Put the same eggs in the same basket so that people who like specific genres are served properly and that the authors have a better chance to perform on a site that caters to their writing genre without interference of another. I have nothing against erotica but i hate to see my book getting passed over on the front page just because an erotica book was listed below. It is human nature to gravitate towards sex which removes a lot of fighting chances for the other authors chances.<br />Smashwords needs to become more proactive towards its authors and avoid the trap of becoming a data dump. It should reward authors who are trying to make a break thru.<br />example: paid publicity. authors could buy banners on the site to promote their work.<br />authors output incentive. authors receive a showcase in the front page for putting out his or her 10 book, 15 book, etc...<br />Try to instated a mandatory review system so that people do get reviews and not hundreds of downloads without a peep from anynone.<br />and so on and so forth.<br /><br />The more smashwords try to help the authors the more money everyone will make. Right now smashwords is basically a business host for books and the authors are left to market their books which is an insane amount of work and could bring you on the verge of giving up because there is too much competition and getting known is a major undertaking which can take years to get done. Smashwords should help authors with its klout to help them establish themselves and then everyone will be a winner.<br /><br />In short smashwords has to stop being a data dump and help its authors some more with some innovative tools.<br /><br />nuff said.<br />Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03939979823691233554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-43909792655605554912015-01-03T10:06:43.081-08:002015-01-03T10:06:43.081-08:00part 1 The overall problem that everyone is facing...part 1 The overall problem that everyone is facing is visibility. If your ebook is not quickly visible then it won’t be picked up. Case in point. You release a new ebook and you see some nice sales then they plummet as soon as your ebook is not on the front page anymore.<br />So what does that tell you? simply that what is visible attracts people. <br />Right now smashwords is a huge repository of information and you are trying to fight your way to the top to be visible.<br />How worse is it going to be for an start up indie author to get known when there will be a million books available on smashwords for people to buy or download for free? It will be like one guy going up against an army of other people with the same goal which is to reach a public. People will get discouraged and abandon, not because they are bad writers but because they simply don’t have a fighting chance.<br />By its design itself smashwords will sink itself as it will just become some sort of data dump in the future and no one will be able to make heads or tails of it and will jump at whatever is on front page because it will be the easiest route for the readers to get something to read.<br />Smashwords needs to find a way to help promote its reader on site. The only way i can see this happening is to have some sort of publicity put in place so that people can buy a fighting chance to have their books showcased for others to see and not being buried as the 10000 book in the fantasy section.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03939979823691233554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-42750112538779415372015-01-03T10:00:12.991-08:002015-01-03T10:00:12.991-08:00@Nirmala, I think your prediction is spot on. Amaz...@Nirmala, I think your prediction is spot on. Amazon is positioning themselves so that they will call all the shots. However, some authors will feel they have no choice but to stay with them. Amazon is creating a market for other companies like Smashwords. If Amazon doesn't want you, other companies will be happy to have your books. As more "famous" authors leave KU, I hope that Indie authors will stop and think about what is best for themselves and for other authors in the long run.<br /><br />@Peter, there are objective and subjective ways to measure a book's worth. Excellent grammar is more objective. The content however is purely subjective. Have you checked the ratings on 50 Shades? It's a popular book and the author is very rich, but there are a lot of people who hate it and question why it was allowed to be published in the first place. I think readers should be allowed to judge the books in a "free" market made free by self published authors. <br /><br />The only hindrance is being discovered when you are a "nobody." Indie authors will have to find creative ways to get noticed. In all of my research, I have found the best way for an "unknown" to get noticed is through word of mouth. So self published authors need to start out small and count on their GREAT book to sell itself.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07202023122457995823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-81169731049737305862015-01-03T07:14:29.510-08:002015-01-03T07:14:29.510-08:00Mark, enjoyed the article, but I wanted to expand ...Mark, enjoyed the article, but I wanted to expand upon something you touched on: The biggest hurdle facing self-published books is discoverability, because there are too many books being written, too many poorly written books that is. (If the 4 million books on Amazon were all well-written, growth would be exponential.) While it is true that there are many great self-published books available, it is also true that are far more which are poorly-written, unedited, and populated by flat, stereotypical characters. This is the dilemna for the self-publishing industry: Can quality standards be imposed, or are quality standards antithetical to the industry? I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Peter Hogenkamphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14277849942178361707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-80932275566083128272015-01-02T20:58:35.531-08:002015-01-02T20:58:35.531-08:00@Ruth Ann Nordin Re Amazon royalties. I just pulle...@Ruth Ann Nordin Re Amazon royalties. I just pulled out of KDP Select and For me royalty is 35% in USA 70% in most of the rest of the world.Mike Mathesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12388150117361458755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-24784324410751787592015-01-02T19:58:13.584-08:002015-01-02T19:58:13.584-08:00I definitely see traditional publishers lowering p...I definitely see traditional publishers lowering prices on ebooks and doing free promotions, especially in romance. I think this will be done more and more in the future. I also think this will effect the way indies price books.<br /><br />I believe some authors will leave, especially those who thought self-publishing was an easy way to make money. Some might be forced to slow their writing down in favor of a job that brings in more money. There will continue to be those who make a living and give it their all, of course.<br /><br />I think hybrid is going to be more popular, both for indie and traditionally published authors.<br /><br />I'm waiting for Amazon to say in order to get 70% at $2.99, a book must be in Select. All non-Select books will be at 35% or maybe 50% (if they feel generous). (I expect this to be on new books being published, not on ones already on the site.) The day won't surprise me if it happens. <br /><br />I wouldn't be surprised if all retailers started offering subscription services.<br /><br />Ruth Ann Nordinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15277679843442868070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-37681484590244271522015-01-02T13:58:14.944-08:002015-01-02T13:58:14.944-08:00The new EU VAT rates will have an impact but proba...The new EU VAT rates will have an impact but probably not much at the low end of the price scale where a $0.99 e-book will go from 77p to 90p in the UK. In Ireland the price should go up to the Euro equivalent of 92p but since Ireland is served by Amazon.co.uk they will still see and pay a price of 90p and the author will lose 2p in royalties to cover the extra 3% VAT. That represents a decrease of 10% on Irish sales.<br /><br />What makes the new VAT hard to swallow is the fact that paper books are 0% VAT in the UK. E-books have been described as a 'service' and therefore subject to the VAT charge of 20%. Yet both formats require and author, an editor, a formatter and a sales outlet. E-books do not require the felling of trees, transport of timber to the pulp mill, pulping and paper making process, disposal of environmentally damaging pulp waste. E-books don't require paper to be transported to the printer, the printing process, the book storage and distribution to retailers. E-books don't require the reader travel to obtain the book (or have it surface mailed to them). When surplus books are printed they don't need transport back from the retailer to the printer and subsequent pulping. Neither do they require the removal of toxic ink from the pulp before it can be re-used.<br />In all 95% of the carbon cost of a book can be saved by using the e-book rather than the paper book format. This paper book 'non-service' is expensive, environmentally damaging and makes a mockery of the UK intention to reduce carbon emissions.<br />John Chapmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06575901336277340191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-76654896179417336332015-01-02T08:03:23.986-08:002015-01-02T08:03:23.986-08:00@David Rose: Your idea is an interesting one, but ...@David Rose: Your idea is an interesting one, but there is a potential for abuse. Since the reader never pays for any book they read, what would stop an author from pricing all of their books (including short stories) at $9.99 or even $14.99? Instead of a race to the bottom in ebook pricing, there could be a race to the top, especially since the reader might be tricked into thinking a book for $9.99 was somehow better than a book for $2.99. And again, for the reader, both books would be free after they pay their monthly subscription, so the only effect of the higher price would be a bigger payout for the author.<br /><br />If subscription services do come to dominate the ebook market, then it would probably be fairer to have author payments based on the length of the book instead of an easily manipulated retail price which has no relevance in a subscription model.Nirmalahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14620667876235314509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-2830139994492808142015-01-01T21:02:37.548-08:002015-01-01T21:02:37.548-08:00Regarding FREE (your predictions 6 and 7) and Kind...Regarding FREE (your predictions 6 and 7) and Kindle Unlimited:<br />I'm seeing an awful lot of readers of free books out there. I'm seeing an increasing willingness on the part of readers to sign up with KU, or Scribd, or subscription services in general, as they realise what a good bargain that generally is for the reader. No, of course that's not the whole picture and it's never going to be. <br />I'm thinking that Indies should be making use of this, particularly to get more exposure - *without* signing up with KU.<br /><br />I'm thinking it would be great if Indie publishing in the form of someone like Smashwords could offer a similar service. *Not* sponsored the way Amazon does it, but on a simple pro rata basis. I would suggest basing payment on the reader's consumption. <br />Examples: <br />Reader 'Voracious' signs up for $10 a month, gets unlimited reading. Reads 8 books that month. Smashwords keeps say $1 for admin; $9 gets paid to the 8 authors, divided pro rata with the price of each book. If 4 books are $1 and 4 books are $5, the total retail value read is $24 and the subscription unit for that reader is $9/$24 = $0.375 the the $1 authors would get $0.37 each while $5 authors would get $1.87 each, rounded down.<br />Reader 'Slow' signs up for $10 a month, and reads only two books, priced at $2 and $5. The $2 book would earn the author $2.57 and the $5 book would garner $6.2 or thereabouts.<br /><br />This might not earn authors the price they want, but they would be getting exposure which at present they are losing to KU. With the added disadvantage that KU is trying to corner the market, and - clearly - will dictate terms once Amazon has done that.david.rose1958@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05223391476240605670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-78631873406536889502015-01-01T18:02:31.659-08:002015-01-01T18:02:31.659-08:00Not sure how effective this will be, but there is ...Not sure how effective this will be, but there is an online petition with regards to VAT.<br /><br />https://www.change.org/p/vince-cable-mp-uphold-the-vat-exemption-threshold-for-businesses-supplying-digital-products?after_sign_exp=member_sponsored_donationAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07202023122457995823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-5409696422257544342015-01-01T11:35:20.204-08:002015-01-01T11:35:20.204-08:00@Michael Parker
Interesting that you lump books in...@Michael Parker<br />Interesting that you lump books into either/or category: if it's short, it must be awful and if it's long it must be great. I don't think most readers judge a book's worthiness based on length. <br /><br />The great thing about having self published authors is now it's more of a "Free market." Books that are well written will be purchased and those authors will make money. Those that have no value (as determined by readers) will not be sold. <br /><br />Not all writers expect to be as rich or JK Rowling or EL James. Nor do they want fame. Some of us write because we love it and making money is an added (and appreciated) bonus.<br /><br />In ANY field, you will have top earners (sports, entertainment, business). A "fair market" (as much as it can be fair) is good for readers and authors, not for Traditional Publishers.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07202023122457995823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-85389215823535638132015-01-01T11:13:17.617-08:002015-01-01T11:13:17.617-08:00As more writers choose to write short stories for ...As more writers choose to write short stories for publishing on Amazon´s KU, so the book world will split into two: the advent of the modern 'Penny Dreadfuls', and those books that have at least a 100,000 word content. The eBook system is swamped with writers who would probably never had found a traditional publisher but can now swarm all over the eBook industry.Michael Parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17069186415478764638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-80935492750145912452015-01-01T09:25:08.737-08:002015-01-01T09:25:08.737-08:00Happy New Year, Mark and everyone at Smashwords! ...Happy New Year, Mark and everyone at Smashwords! Thanks for being a great partner. <br /><br />Maria Schneider<br />www.BearMountainBooks.comMariahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11234907275906877802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7436915084701775452.post-4302330528088071182015-01-01T09:13:39.396-08:002015-01-01T09:13:39.396-08:00Hi Mark Coker,
You put your head above the parape...Hi Mark Coker,<br /><br />You put your head above the parapet, so hat's off to you. You also seem to know what you're talking about, and I thank you for sharing your opinions with me.<br />I have two points:<br />1] I thought KDP was exclusive, as I have been 'finally warned' by Amazon twice for having books available in some back end sites in Spain and Mexico.<br />Now I only put my sub $2 novellas on there.<br />2] I am European. We are used to paying tax, believe me, so I don't think tha t the new tax laws will alter readers' habits at all. Why should they? Readers read, smokers smoke, drinkers drink.<br />Don't worry about it so much.<br /><br />All the best,<br />Owenwpo1408https://www.blogger.com/profile/04044659885758601862noreply@blogger.com